WINNECONNE – Sam Devens crossed her fingers and squinted her eyes as she watched the Wheel of Life spin round and round. The Winneconne High School sophomore was visiting the Reality Store and was about to see what little curve life would throw her way.
Devens and nearly 300 other sophomores and juniors spent Tuesday morning at the Reality Store, a hands-on simulation of life designed to give students a taste of what handling finances will be like in the real world and how the career choices they make affect the way they will live.
The Reality Store helps fill in some of the gaps in preparing today's young people for a secure financial future. It shows financial pitfalls and ways to avoid them.
Each career was assigned a corresponding salary from which students were instructed to deduct taxes, school loan payments, as well as amounts to cover housing, transportation, child care, insurance, clothing, food and recreation. They kept track to the penny in checkbooks.
Sophomore Tyler Formiller was unhappy when he realized that his monthly salary of $2,449 as a chef did not go all that far, especially with two children to feed. He found himself at the SOS table numerous times for help. This is where students went when their money ran out before their month did. Volunteers helped them see where they had gone wrong. They helped them find second jobs to make ends meet, or sell things.
Anne Breen and Amanda Capuana, sophomores, were luckier. Each ended up with money in her checkbook at the end of the exercise. It took some careful juggling, however.
Kyle Felker, a sophomore, had the world by the tail armed with a hefty salary as a political scientist. He bought a house, an expensive dog, and gave generously to charities. He was sailing along until his money ran out. Instead of checking out he had to go to the SOS table. The experience taught him a lesson.
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